Engineering topics
Walko, D A
Publications and source records attributed to Walko, D A.
2-ps Hard X-Ray Streak Camera Measurements at Sector 7 Beamline of the Advanced Photon Source
A hard X-ray streak camera capable of 2-ps time resolution is in operation at the Sector 7 beamline of the Advanced Photon Source. It is used for laser-pump, X-ray probe experiments using the Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser system installed on the beamline. This streak camera, combined with standardized and prealigned experimental setups, can perform time-resolved liquid-phase absorption spectroscopy, reflectivity, and diffraction experiments.
Thermal transport in thin films measured by time-resolved, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction.
We use depth- and time-resolved x-ray diffraction to study thermal transport across single crystal Bi films grown on sapphire in order to determine the thermal conductivity of the film and the Kapitza conductance of the interface. Ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser pulses were used to heat the films; x-ray diffraction then measured the film's lattice expansion. Use of grazing incidence diffraction geometry provided depth sensitivity, as the x-ray angle of incidence was varied near the critical angle. The shift of the film's Bragg peak position with time was used to determine the film temperature averaged over an x-ray penetration depth that could be selected by choice of the angle of incidence. For films that were thick compared to the laser penetration depth, we observed a large temperature gradient at early times. In this case, measurements with the incident angle near or well above the critical angle were more sensitive to the film conductivity or Kapitza conductance, respectively. For thinner films, however, cooling was dominated by the Kapitza conductance at all accessible time scales.
Optimal Countrates for Deadtime Corrections
The high x-ray flux available at synchrotron radiation sources can cause nonlinearities in photon-counting detectors unless deadtime corrections are employed. We compute the uncertainties associated with several common deadtime-correction formulas. At lower countrates, statistical noise dominates the error in the measured countrates; at higher countrates, the dominating factors are saturation of the response and uncertainty in the value of the deadtime parameter. In between, a range of countrates exists in which the signal-to-noise ratio can be optimized for photon-counting experiments.